Knockers, Ghosts, and Tommyknockers

This is a one-of-a-kind illustration of Cornish knockers from the nineteenth century. It comes from William Bottrell's 1873 book on the folklore of Cornwall. Cornish miners believed that knockers inhabited the mines, working like their human counterparts. A miner who treated them with respect and who was of good character could receive clues about where valuable ore existed - and if the mine was about to collapse. The knockers also punished men of poor character.

The Pre-Raphaelite artist, Arthur Hughes (1832-1915), created illustrations for George MacDonald’s influential fantasy novel, The Princess and the Goblin (1872), which includes this depiction of menacing supernatural miners. Because nineteenth-century images of Cornish knockers are rare, this often appears in that context.

When Cornish miners travelled to North America, they brought their traditions. Folklorists recorded miners placing clay figures like this as a means to cultivate the good favor of the tommyknockers - the Northern American counterpart of the Old World knockers. Both in Europe and in North America, the supernatural beings of the mines were often blurred with the ghosts of dead miners. Ample evidence exists that in both places, their elfin-character was apparent, but it is not possible to discount their ghost like nature, which influenced the way miners perceived them.